PROPERTY NEWS

TO ensure that people in all parts of Ogun State have access to the GIS technology for new certificates of occupancy (C-of-O), title recertification, title registration, title transfer and other forms of land transactions, the state Bureau of Lands and Survey (BLS) has set up community-based structures in each local government to build awareness and facilitate acceptance of GIS-based documents in all land transactions.

The initiative, according to Mr. Gbenga Ogunnoiki, the director-general in charge of the state's BLS, said "was needed to protect the rights of individuals and institutional investors in their landed assets, moderate and eventually eliminate ownership disputes in landed properties, and enhance public confidence in the property market at the grassroots."

Ogunnoiki explained that the structures being built at the local level would work on behalf of the BLS to decentralise contact with government with regard to land transactions, thereby cutting out unforeseen bottlenecks in the transaction process expected of the newly installed system.

The BLS has said that the new system will guarantee the issuance of Cs-of-O within weeks, rather than many months as was the case with the manual system that is being replaced. He explained that new technology has the capacity to replace the old Cs of O for applicants and issue new ones on request within weeks.

"With the new technology", he said, "records of registered properties have been converted into a database and are currently being matched with their files for safe keeping, thereby enhancing the capacity to guarantee quick and reliable title search and other transactions".

The manually generated C-of-O will cease to be an acceptable title document in Ogun State from the end of June next year when the digital, GIS-based C-of-O, reported to be forgery-proof and durable, will become the only acceptable complete title document to landed assets in Ogun State, the Bureau has said.

"The new C of O will give land owners peace of mind when it is clear that Ogun State provides the right atmosphere for investments in landed assets," Ogunnoiki said. He added that the bureau has a 24-hour help desk that offers land owners access to support officers equipped to provide first hand information, thereby eliminating the danger of rumour mongering.